ISG News

As Harvest Comes to a Close

Published Sep. 4, 2019

Author Jana Chamblee

As the finish line for harvest grows close, I suspect the first thing on many of your minds is the sense of relief in getting another crop out successfully and wondering what repairs need to be made in preparation for next year. While all very important, it’s not too early to be setting a solid foundation for next year’s success from a data standpoint. Taking the time to sit down and analyze the high-quality data collected throughout the course of the growing season enables strategic planning of simple tasks like resource allocation for the next crop season all the way to creating variable rate prescription applications for seed, fertilizer, or irrigation.

The first step in the process is unloading your harvest documentation data from the display and cleaning it up in the John Deere Operations Center. This data management platform will give you the ability to go in and perform any post calibrations to the fields or even individual machines ensuring you are setting the stage to make intelligent, data driven decisions with geospatially accurate yield maps. A clean yield map illustrates how a field actually performed and what varieties may have excelled or fell short of your expectations both agronomically and/or financially. Another major advantage of clean yield maps is confidence in using them for the creation of variable rate prescriptions if no other data layers are present for comparison. Starting out with precise yield data will translate into more accurate prescriptions when combined with other data layers like soil electrical conductivity (EC), elevation, and slope - or others which use high accuracy geospatial location. Tracking the yield performance within areas of each field temporally can help determine what specific zones require more or less fertilizer and any other crop input in next year’s crop. Once field zones are defined, zone soil sampling can be performed to facilitate proper nutrient placement and stewardship by knowing each zone’s specific needs. The creation of variable rate prescription applications based on precise data layers will allow each area of the field to maximize financial returns by reducing crop production resources or reallocating those inputs to more agronomically productive areas.

Accurately recording documentation data during harvest also allows you to track each individual variety and its performance across your entire operation. This allows each variety to be placed in an area where it will perform best and ultimately generate maximum return on investment in the upcoming year(s). The best way to make sure high-quality documentation data is achieved is to make sure display setup information is uniform across all assets in your fleet. Taking the time to ensure each display has a common setup file that includes all your machines, implements, products, fields, guidance lines, boundaries and much more will allow you to maintain accurate, consistent records and prevent headaches knowing everything will be set up correctly from the start.

Making sure preparation for and execution of your field activities is simplified using the technology investment you have made can be as easy as utilizing your local ISG consultant to lend a helping hand in carrying that load. Allowing our team to be your trusted advisor in data management helps ensure you can focus on the day to day activities and the overall success of your operation. Our expertise will help you understand the latest in John Deere technology and help improve data driven decisions to make sure you have a solution that best fits your operation’s needs. Making sure the proper data foundation is set, accurately analyzed, and executed for your operation enables intelligent management decisions to be made in future crop seasons. Let one of our local ISG team members be a trusted, helping hand in your agronomic decision process for your next year’s crops!